Father lion plays with cubs

October 5, 2018 • 3:30 pm

Or rather, the cubs are playing with him. Either way or both, this is an adorable video, and a meet way to end the week.

I need this because James has just been displaced as Honey’s mate by an interloper drake—after a bitter and vicious duck fight in the water (more tomorrow). This involved me having to rescue the interloper after he flew into a grated window well and became trapped when I squirted him with a Super Soaker, and other dramatic incidents. (I had to gently grab a frantically flapping and trapped wild drake, and squeeze him gently under the window bars. He’s okay now.) My heart is heavy this afternoon as James sits disconsolately on the bank, huddled in a blob and gazing at Honey with her new swain.

Here are the YouTube notes.

A male lion watches over his young cubs in the early evening light as they arise after a day of slumber at Shamwari Game Reserve. Shamwari Game Reserve, situated in the Eastern Cape of South Africa was winner of Africa’s Leading Conservation Company and Africa’s Leading Safari Lodge at the 2012 World Travel Awards.

14 thoughts on “Father lion plays with cubs”

  2. Such drama on Botany Pond! You are obviously sad about James Pond but what are your feelings regarding Honey at this point? She’s a fickle one. Does this suitor have any advantages over James? Perhaps it was all over migration.

  3. “Father lion plays with cubs”

    I’d say that’s backwards… 🙂

    Oh, my, more duck drama–waiting to hear more!

    1. Just a conventional story arc – Honey and James have to go through adversity before the triumphal happy ending when she comes to her senses and they’re reunited.

    2. I got your subtle, left-wing Marxian references, CAS. “Duck Soup”, and “A Night At The Opera”?

  6. I loved the dove call in the background of the video. I’ve found that doves sound similar whatever the species. Can any WEIT reader let me know what species it is?

  7. Poor James!! At least if he finds a new mate you’ll have twice the chance of one pair from the original two returning next year.

  8. The dove you hear in the background is the Cape Turtle Dove, Streptopelia capicola, which is found all over Southern Africa, in all sorts of habitats, even in deserts. Ubiquitous, and the dove you are most likely to hear in the bushveld.

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